As demand to get the jab at Castlemaine Health’s coronavirus vaccination clinics has continued to grow in recent days, so too has confidence in vaccine supply say frontline health professionals administering the local rollout.
While it’s been hard to miss the national criticism around the federal government’s role in facilitating adequate supply of – particularly the Pfizer – vaccine, Castlemaine Health’s director of nursing clinical care Mark Nally said their own surety of supply was looking up.
“In the last two weeks there’s now been a consistency in our Pfizer supplies that wasn’t there two weeks ago,” said Mr Nally, speaking at the clinic that’s administering both Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccinations to those eligible under the government criteria.
On Friday when the Express attended, the stream of locals arriving to roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated was strong and steady – and had only been increasing since the state went into lockdown, medical staff said.
“Today we’re doing 120 and they’re nearly all first doses,” Mr Nally said.
The Castlemaine Health COVID-19 clinics began mid-April and, as of Friday, had administered 2350 vaccinations – about 988 of them Pfizer jabs and the rest AstraZeneca, nurse unit manager Shelley Leathem said.
And the great majority of those have gone into the arms of people residing in Mount Alexander Shire.
“We’re just seeing the numbers of expressions of interest from people wanting to be vaccinated increasing each day,” Ms Leathem said.
Beyond the hospital clinic’s closely monitored doors, Castlemaine’s three GP clinics are also providing COVID-19 vaccinations.
Dr Ronnie Moule of the Mostyn Street Clinic said they were currently only able to provide AstraZeneca with all three local clinics now waiting to receive supplies of the Pfizer vaccine as well.
“We are waiting for that to be distributed,” Dr Moule said.
Dr Moule said it was not yet clear when the clinics would receive their requested Pfizer supplies – “I don’t know the answer to that,” she said.
“Hopefully within the next few weeks.
“But I think we can be assured that at least 500 people a week are currently being vaccinated in Castlemaine.
“We’re doing 150 vaccinations a week and we have been fully booked.”
At Castlemaine Health the vaccination clinics are running Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 9am-3pm with those wanting to get vaccinated urged to call the hospital and book their spot to queue in what Mr Nally said was “a pretty slick” process.
“People don’t have to wait long. We’re not mucking around,” he said.
“We’re very, very proud to do this for our community and I’m particularly proud of the staff.”
Occasional cancellations in the queue sometimes enable AstraZeneca shot walk-ins. But for now the clinic is not offering Pfizer walk-ins.
The hospital is also urging people to register for a vaccination booking via the CH website, and those who find they can’t attend their appointment, or who get vaccinated elsewhere in the meantime, are advised to email covidvaccinations@castlemainehealth.org.au to enable the appointment to be offered to someone else.
On Friday the state’s Department of Health had confirmed there were two positive coronavirus cases listed in central Victoria but both cases acquired their infections outside of the region.
“There are two previously reported positive cases currently in quarantine in the Bendigo/Kyneton area,” a department spokesman said.
“They did not acquire their infection locally and have been successfully isolating.
“Consequently, there are no local exposure sites associated with these.”
